Belle Haven Country Club

Belle Haven Country Club in Alexandria was designed by Leonard Macomber and opened in 1924 as a par-72 layout measuring 6,933 yards overlooking the Potomac River in Fairfax County. Macomber positioned several holes to take advantage of sweeping river views, and the club has served the Washington metropolitan area's golf community for a century from its historic Belle Haven estate grounds.

Belle Haven Country Club was established in the early 1920s when David Howell, a civil engineer from Alexandria, purchased land along the Potomac River in Fairfax County and formed two corporations — one to construct a golf course and club, with a second to develop a residential subdivision that would surround it. The course opened in 1925 as a nine-hole layout on land whose history included the West Grove Plantation, whose main house had been burned to the ground by federal troops during the Civil War in retaliation against the owner's sons for serving as officers on General Robert E. Lee's staff.

That history of Civil War significance gives Belle Haven's grounds a depth of historical context unusual for a Northern Virginia private club. The original golf course was designed by Leonard Macomber, an architect working in the Washington metropolitan area during the 1920s who built several courses serving the capital region's growing membership population. Macomber's nine-hole layout on the Potomac River bottomland established the club's position as one of Northern Virginia's distinctive private facilities, with the river providing both scenic backdrop and natural boundary for the course.

The club expanded to 18 holes over the following decades, growing alongside the Alexandria and Fairfax County communities that the surrounding residential development had created. Belle Haven's proximity to Old Town Alexandria and the George Washington Parkway made it accessible from both the Virginia suburbs and across the Potomac, giving it a geographic position of advantage within the competitive Northern Virginia private club market. A comprehensive renovation was undertaken in 2002 by Arthur Hills, among the respected architects of his generation, followed by additional work from Lester George and Drew Rogers in 2004.

The renovation program updated the course's strategic demands while preserving the Potomac River setting that remains Belle Haven's most distinctive natural feature. Hills's work focused on improving bunkering, reshaping greens complexes, and establishing playing corridors that honored the original routing's relationship with the river landscape. Belle Haven has served the Alexandria community for a century, building a tradition that reflects the city's distinctive character: historically significant, geographically privileged, and connected to the broader Washington metropolitan area while maintaining a distinct local identity.